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G/23810 7th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment
Herbert Debenham was born in Glemsford around 1900, the youngest of seven surviving children of Herbert and Eliza Debenham. His father was a cocoa mat maker and the family lived in Suffolk Road, Sudbury; at one time at Dairy Cottages before moving to 22 Queen’s Terrace.
It is not known when Herbert joined his battalion which formed part of 36th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division. In August 1918 the battalion saw action at the Battle of Amiens (8 – 17 August) when the British fighting alongside the French made a successful two mile deep advance from Amiens. It was the beginning of the One Hundred Day offensive and the end of the war.
Herbert died aged 18 on 13 August 1918. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Vis-En-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. A Cross of Remembrance was laid by his name in March 2014.
Herbert was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
He is also remembered on the Trinity Congregational Church Memorial, which was moved to the United Reformed Church, School Street when Trinity closed. The United Reformed Church closed in 2017 and it is proposed that the memorials from both churches will be relocated to the Sudbury Cemetery Chapel.
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